


I Would Know him in Death, at the End of the World

by sherlocks_skeletal_warlock



Series: But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Happy Ending, Human AU, M/M, Magnus and Alec are adorable dorks, Malec, Past Camille/Magnus, Soulmate AU, camille is a bitch, mentioned Homophobia, slight angst, the first word your soulmate says to you is on your arm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2019-01-01 02:43:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12146904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlocks_skeletal_warlock/pseuds/sherlocks_skeletal_warlock
Summary: Magnus had always hated his soulmark.The words on the inside of his wrist, merely reading 'What? I-' What kind of stupid, dull thing to say was that when you first met your soulmate?Turns out, the meetings of souls rarely goes how either of those involved had planned.





	I Would Know him in Death, at the End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> The second in my Malec AU series! I have no idea how many of these I will write.  
> This one is based on the idea that soulmates have the first words their soulmate will say to them on their arm, but one person's words are really stupid and they hate it.  
> I do hope you all like it!

Magnus Bane had long hated his soulmark. What was the point of having the first words that your soulmate would ever say to you imprinted on your arm when they were so **_dull?_**

 _What? I-_ Had been emblazoned on the inside of Magnus’s left arm in a scrawling, lopsided hand since he was 15. When he had asked his foster parents about it, they had explained that there was someone out there, someone who was the other half of his soul and that one day he would find them.

But by God, his words were boring.

Most people had words that were exciting or interesting. His best friend Catarina, for example; her words were, _I love the colour of that skirt._ Sweet and kind. It showed that Catarina would have a lovely soulmate, one that she deserved.

Magnus wasn’t quite sure what to make of his soulmate. Whoever they were, they certainly weren’t eloquent in their first meeting. And so, Magnus forgot about it, about his soulmate, about everything and lived his life to the fullest as a ‘freewheeling bisexual’ as he liked to put it.

It wasn’t until he was 23 and Camille Belcourt had shattered his heart by whispering in his ear about how it didn’t matter that they weren’t soulmates, she loved him and she was always going to love him.

Until she had laughed, cruelly, in his face when he had come home early to find her cheating on him with some blonde hunk she’d met in his club.

Then Magnus had decided to give up on romance all together, soulmate or no soulmate.

* * *

Alec Lightwood’s parents had hated his soulmark. It’d appeared 3 days after his 14th birthday, in a looping, beautiful font.

_Oh, fuck, gay cutie, quick, kiss me!_

Alec hadn’t liked them at first either. His soulmate was abrupt and forward according to those words and Alec had never liked those kinds of people.

But his parents hated the third word. **_Gay._** By the time he was 14, Alec was beginning to realise that his soulmate wouldn’t be a girl, no matter how much his mother had harped on about how beautiful **_she_** would be. And there were his words, confirming Alec’s suspicions and turning his parents’ cold. His soulmate knew he was gay and so he was likely to be a man too.

His parents had thrown him out at 18, told him that if he didn’t ‘get over this silly phase’ he wasn’t welcome in their household. Alec had screamed back that that was fine, he didn’t want to be in such a toxic place anyway. He had got a job in a bookstore and the owner, Luke Garroway, had been kind enough to offer him his sofa until Alec had saved enough money to rent a tiny apartment of his own.

Besides, he had his sister and his best friend. They would always support him, even if his parents were bigoted and small minded. People could call soulmates who were the same gender abnormal if they liked; Alec did not care.

He wasn’t sure about his soulmate. Wasn’t sure he wanted to meet them. But he had believed in the process, in trusting his words for so long, that he didn’t think he could avoid it.

So, it was fair to say that Alec’s soulmate had caused him enough trouble and he hadn’t even met them yet.

* * *

 

Magnus had stumbled into the little hole-in-the-wall bookstore, _Wolf’s Reads,_ just in time to avoid the downpour of rain. Even after living in Brooklyn for 5 years, he still did not know all its little surprises as he inhaled the musty, papery scent of a good bookstore. He had really been looking for something new to add to his significant collection of books and this seemed like the perfect place to find that. Behind the polished oak counter sat a young worker, wearing a t-shirt that read ‘Gay and Proud’, his nose stuck firmly in a book. Magnus gave a small smile as he took a moment to peruse the shelves closest to the counter. _Wolf’s Reads_ was well organised into sections and Magnus had found himself in the area dedicated to Ancient History as he trailed a bedazzled finger over hardback copies of Pliny’s Letters and Cicero’s speeches. He allowed a small smile to slip on to his face as he cautiously removed a copy of Hesiod’s _Works and Days._ Raphael always had grumbled about how he was far too interested in dead people since Camille. At least dead people couldn’t rip your heart out and stamp on it.

Magnus let his eyes drift to the worker behind the desk. He was beautiful, there was no denying that. A shock of messy black hair, unfathomable warm eyes fixed intently on the pages in front of him and his legs, curled up against the chair like they were too long and he didn’t know what to do with them.

Maybe a few years ago, he would have gone over, flirted, tried to get something out of this cute boy. But not now. Now, he just let his eyes drop and return to the shelves of books. It was okay, Magnus reasoned with himself. He wasn’t unhappy on his own. In fact, it was easier without somebody leering over him all the time.

But then the door opened.

It was **_Camille._**

Magnus’s heart leapt into his throat and his first instinct was to dart behind the bookshelves but her piercing eyes, so cold, so cruel, had fixed on him. He didn’t want to see her, but damn it, if she was going to look at him, he was going to make her feel like an idiot for what she did. Going to show her that he could move on.

So, he went for option two.

He leant over the nearby desk and hissed to the boy,

“Oh, fuck, gay cutie, quick, kiss me!”

The boy managed a stuttering,

“What? I-” before Magnus pressed his lips to the other’s. The angle was wrong and Magnus’s heart was pounding but something felt ** _right_** about kissing this beautiful young man. He could feel his soulmark burning on his arm.

Wait. His **_soulmark?_**

 _“What? I-”_ Could it really be this boy? This young, beautiful man who worked in this lovely bookstore that Magnus really should have frequented before now?

When Magnus pulled back, both him and the boy had bright red cheeks. He chanced a glance over his shoulder, just in time to see Camille flounce coldly out of the store. He’d done it. He’d shown her. But now he had to deal with this, his possible soulmate.

“Sorry about that. Cruel ex, you know?” Magnus forced his voice into its usual calm tone; he wanted to make a good impression if this was his soulmate. But the boy just gawped.

“You said my words.”

“Ah, yes. You said mine. I do sincerely apologise, those can’t have been great words to live with.” Magnus scratched the back of his head sheepishly, trying not to blush at the thought of this poor boy having such crude words emblazoned on his wrist.

He snorted.

“Yeah, my parents kicked me out over them.” And now Magnus felt horrifically guilty.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’m Magnus, by the way. I suppose we should probably get to know each other, as we appear to be soulmates.”

“Alec. Yes, I guess that would be the best thing…” Alec was blushing. Magnus could tell from the way he kept his head down, his eyes flicking up to meet Magnus’s every now and again.

“I really am sorry about the words. And the kiss. It’s just, um, Camille broke my heart and I wanted to get back at her?” He offers, trying to explain why he acted so irrationally but Alec just smiles a little.

“It’s okay. The soulmark hasn’t been that easy to live with but I think my parents would have thrown me out anyway. You saved me the pain of having to come out in words. Besides, the kiss was incredible.” Magnus couldn’t help it; he laughed. The earnest but lightly teasing way that Alec spoke was wonderful.

“I agree, the kiss was quite something. Say, could I take you out for coffee or something? Just to get to know the one I am destined to be with forever?” he teased softly, but Alec’s serious reply surprised him.

“My shift finishes at 6?” he offered, his eyes fixed on Magnus.

“Then I’ll return then and we can talk more over coffee.” Magnus gave him one last smile before leaving.

It was only after he had walked down the street that he realised that he hadn’t managed to buy the new book he wanted. But honestly, Magnus didn’t mind.

* * *

Alec couldn’t lie to himself; he liked Magnus. He liked Magnus a lot. And despite the sharp and rude nature of his soulmark, it was very clear that Magnus wasn’t usually like that. He had just been stressed the first time they had met. And Alec could sympathise there.

It was a wonder that Alec had even managed to speak when they had first met. He had had enough mental crises about his soulmate in his youth for anyone. But Magnus had made it easy.

And now, Alec was beginning to admit to himself that he was in love with Magnus Bane. Magnus made love easy. Alec had been so nervous at their first date and Magnus had made some quip about how he had hated his words too, because they were so mundane and Alec had to laugh.

Magnus made laughter easy.

Magnus made Alec’s entire life so much easier. It was like he had waved his fingers and lifted the crushing band from Alec’s chest in one moment. It was like Alec had spent his entire life trying to breathe underwater and Magnus had shown him he could just breathe air. It was like Magnus had found Alec blind and in one sentence, had cleared his vision.

Tonight, precisely six weeks since they had met, Alec wanted him to understand how much he meant to him. To try and explain to Magnus all these feelings that he kept inside him. It was a domestic evening, in Magnus’s apartment and Alec plucked up the courage to open his mouth.

“Magnus, I, um, I want to tell you, I want, you to know what you mean to me. You’re so special and I can’t, I want to but I can’t, put into words how much you mean, how much this relationship means, to me.”

Magnus carded his fingers through Alec’s hair, as he tried to express himself in his stumbling stuttering way. He looked Alec dead in the eye and said,

“You are half of my soul, as the poets say. And we are made to fit together, Alexander. We are designed for each other.” Alec was never as eloquent as that and merely managed to stutter out,

“I’m, I’m so glad you kissed me, that day. I love you.” It had been the first time he had said it aloud, though he had thought it for long enough.

Magnus’s expression simultaneously softened and brightened as he pressed a chaste kiss to Alec’s lips.

“I love you too, Alexander. The other half of my soul.”

And all Alec could feel was bliss.

And, as they sat in Magnus’s loft above the small boutique he owned, Alec had realised what it meant to have a soulmate. And he wondered how he could have ever have doubted it in his youth.

Little did he know, Magnus was thinking the same thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies about the amount of references to Greek Literature in there, I'm excited to start my Classics degree.  
> Title and a few references are from the Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller which I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who wants to read good literature about boys in love.


End file.
